Port Louis, 14 September, 2022 / 8:52 pm (ACI Africa).
The Bishop of Port-Louis in Mauritius has expressed his closeness with members of the Catholic community in Agaléga Islands who are served by the Mauritian Catholic Diocese, and urged them to find strength and courage in the Cross implanted to commemorate the arrival of the first missionaries 125 years ago.
In his message on the occasion of 125 years of Church presence in Agaléga Islands, Maurice Evenor Cardinal Piat remembered early missionaries who implanted the Cross of St. Rita on the shores of the Agaléga Islands, which he said has become a constant reminder of God’s love among the people of God on the Islands.
“I share your joy and thanksgiving to the Lord on this day of the 125th anniversary of the implantation of the great cross of St. Rita in the southern island of Agaléga,” Cardinal Piat says in his message published Wednesday, September 14, the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.
The member of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit (Spiritans) adds, “This cross marks the memory of the day of arrival in the Island of the first Catholic Priest, Father Malaval, who was the first to bring the Word of God and the sacraments of the Church to the people of Agaléga.”
“By looking at him (Jesus on the Cross) with confidence and letting him touch our hearts, we ourselves will be able to forgive those who have offended us, and be reconciled,” he says, and adds, “Let us take courage from the cross to continue to walk together in the footsteps of Jesus, to serve one another and to live in peace as brothers and sisters in the same family.”
